MIC has no plans to leave Barisan, says Vigneswaran

KUALA LUMPUR: MIC has vowed to stick with Barisan Nasional for now as the party announced its latest poll results.

Party president Tan Sri S.A. Vigneswaran, who won the post unopposed in June, said MIC would focus on getting the party back on track, rather than whether it should leave Barisan or not.

“There may be some problems to be resolved (within Barisan). But we have been working (together) for more than 50 years.

“The first and foremost thing we want to do is to ensure that all our parties are back on track. To exit or not, each individual party can decide for themselves.

“As for MIC, we will stick with Barisan until a decision is made together with all the component parties,” he told reporters here yesterday.

Barisan shrank from 13 parties to five after the 14th General Election – Umno, MCA, MIC, myPPP and Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah.

“Pakatan Harapan is for convenience; I don’t see them as a body.

“But we (Barisan) have been tested in our existence for more than 50 years. If we can correct the issues, the public will accept us,” he said, adding that there were also many issues within Pakatan.

“And hopefully after Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad (retires), we will form the government again,” he said.

Earlier, it was announced that Datuk Seri M. Saravanan had won the race for the deputy president post while the three new vicepresidents are Datuk T. Mohan, Datuk Sivarraajh Chandran and Datuk T. Murugiah.

MIC delegates started voting at 4pm on Saturday to elect the party’s deputy president, three vicepresidents and 21 members of its central working committee for the 2018-2021 term.